1. Field of the Invention
This invention generally relates to data mapping, and more specifically, the invention relates to mapping data from an input file to a database.
2. Background Art
Computer applications are being used more and more. Today, particularly with the widespread availability of the Internet, businesses are able to make an ever increasing number of applications available worldwide twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week for use by customers, employees and suppliers. This presents important opportunities and challenges for businesses.
One challenge is to design the applications so that they can be used by different users who may access or input data to the applications using different data formats or files. Another challenge is to design the applications so that, in case users change the data formats used to input data to the applications, or it otherwise becomes advantageous to change the way data is input to the applications, the applications can be readily modified to accommodate new or different data formats and files.